Female detectives find success in India

Indian women are breaking through their traditional stereotypical role in society by becoming private detectives. Some are proving that the feminine touch makes them even more successful than their male counterparts.

One advantage of being a female private eye, it seems, is that the subject being tracked will rarely even suspect a woman being on their case – be it pre-marital checks, industrial counter espionage or even criminal work.

Taralika Lahiri, a woman detective with National Detective and Corporate Consultants, says gender also helps where close proximity tracking is required.

“In our country people still think that women cannot [be detectives]. This is a man’s domain. Generally, private detectives are men. So they don’t suspect that a woman can find out something to detect or to get information,” she says.

And these working women are earning an enviable success rate in the job, which is one of the reason why their employers are so happy. Pradeep Sharma, Director of the Times Detective Agency, says women also work more efficiently.

“Any lady operator working for us and going on a case is able to finish the investigation in half the time a man would take,” says Sharma.

“Definitely, there are many job openings today and most agencies, as far as I know, require females,” says Sharma.

Qualifying is not too much of a hurdle either. Some of the most successful operators in India, say investigation agencies, are ordinary looking women, with basic educational qualifications from small towns who have moved to the big city.